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Education Department Faces Backlash Over FAFSA Correction Delays
Key Points
- Batch Corrections Deferred: The Department of Education will not provide batch correction functionality for the 2024-25 FAFSA cycle, originally promised for mid-August.
- Increased Administrative Burden: Financial aid officers will face a significant administrative burden, manually processing corrections one-by-one that were expected to be handled in bulk.
- Delays In Aid Disbursement: The result is that students will face delays in financial aid, potentially causing financial trouble.
To add to the myriad of FAFSA delays and issues, the Department of Education
announced today that the batch correction functionality for FAFSA submissions will be deferred to the 2025-26 cycle, leading to more challenges for educational institutions and students.
This decision comes after earlier promises of an August release, leaving many institutions scrambling to manage financial aid corrections manually.
The inability to implement batch processing means financial aid offices will need to process corrections individually, significantly increasing their workload. This move has drawn criticism from educational institutions, who rely on batch processing to efficiently manage financial aid for their students.
A large college may need to process thousands of corrections for their students, which must now be done manually.
FAFSA Issues
The FAFSA for 2024-2025 has been mired in issues. Originally slated to launch in October 2023, the launch was delayed numerous times, finally going live on December 28, 2023. However, even after launch, the Department of Education was unable to get FAFSA processed and into the hands of colleges. The result is that financial aid offices didn’t start receiving information until April and May 2024 – in the middle of college acceptance season.
Now, colleges are still struggling to fix FAFSA errors. These happen for numerous reasons, including inaccurate FAFSA data, changes in household status and finances, and more. These now need to be processed manually one-by-one, causing added workload to an already tough college admission season.
Beth Maglione, Interim NASFAA President & CEO, expressed her frustration, emphasizing the federal government’s obligation to ensure students receive their financial aid on time. “Today’s announcement is beyond frustrating,” she said. “The Department of Education has failed to provide a key FAFSA deliverable when promised.”
Indications For Next Year
A key aspect of the notice was the the batch correction functionality will be deferred until next year’s FAFSA. The Department of Education said, “We are prioritizing the development of a well-tested, robust, and end-to-end launch of the 2025-26 form and need to ensure development resources are focused appropriately.”
While the focus on ensuring a successful 2025-2026 FAFSA launch is essential, there are still students and families (as well as colleges) that need support this year.
Despite the Department’s offer of technical assistance, many institutions face lengthy timelines to secure system access and execute contracts, limiting the effectiveness of this support. The Department’s decision underscores the ongoing challenges in the federal financial aid system, prompting calls for more robust planning and resource allocation to prevent such disruptions in the future.
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Editor: Colin Graves
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